Consumer Staples

By 10:40 am, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 46.60 points, or 0.35%, to 13,410.95, while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index had dropped 10.64 points, or 0.74%. The NASDAQ composite index fell 35.90 points, or 1.15%. Some of the narrow based indexes that are still afloat in the...

Star Scientific, Inc. (NASDAQ: STSI), through its wholly owned subsidiary Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals Inc., announced today that the Alzheimer's study of the company's dietary supplement Anatabloc®  has screened and enrolled its first patient.  The Alzheimer's study, entitled, "A Three...

Lorillard, Inc. (NYSE: LO), announced today that the Company's Board of Directors approved a new share repurchase program, authorizing the Company to repurchase in the aggregate up to $500 million of its outstanding common stock. Purchases by the Company under the new program may be made from...

ALPS, the ETF issuer behind the popular ALPS Alerian MLP ETF (NYSE: AMLP), introduced the ALPS Sector Dividend Dogs ETF (NYSE: SDOG) today. The ALPS Sector Dividend Dogs ETF is a fund based on the Dogs of the Dow theory. The Dogs of the Dow theory works like this: Investors purchase an equal-...

Below are the top stocks in the consumer goods sector in terms of operating margin. The trailing-twelve-month operating margin at Le Gaga Holdings (NASDAQ: GAGA) is 90.47%. Le Gaga's revenue for the same period is $78.30 million. The trailing-twelve-month operating margin at Iconix Brand Group (...

Snyder's-Lance, Inc. (Nasdaq: LNCE), has acquired substantially all assets of O'Byrne Distributing, Inc., a snack food distributor serving the Augusta, GA area. This strategic acquisition is part of the Company's plans to continue growing and strengthening its national distribution network.

Uncertain about where the future is headed? Fearing that the world is about to end? Well, that is no problem for these five stocks, known as vice stocks, that are relatively safe and defensive. Vice stocks are companies that are in the tobacco, gambling, defense/weapons, and alcohol industries, and...

Traders who are comfortable with a high level of risk/reward frequently will gravitate to the small-cap space where big gains (and losses) in a short amount of time are commonplace. One of the strategies that momentum oriented small-cap traders utilize is relative strength, which is a measure of...

Lifeway Foods, Inc., (Nasdaq: LWAY) today announced an agreement nearly tripling distribution of its kefir line in Target stores as well as adding new Lifeway products to Target's dairy cases. Availability in Target will increase from 170 to 453 locations, with the addition of three flavors of 8-oz...

According to a research report published this morning, Jefferies has increased Lorillard's (NYSE: LO) PT from $139 to $144. In the report, Jefferies said, "LO offered very disappointing 1Q12 adj. EPS of $1.74, missing our forecast by 32¢. Incl. the effect of wholesale inventory shifts, the miss...

US stock futures are higher this morning, after upbeat results from Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL). Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 67 points to 13,026.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 9.20 points to 1,379.30. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 49.75 points to 2,682.25. US stocks closed...

AutoNation Inc (NYSE: AN) is expected to post its Q1 EPS at $0.53 on revenue of $3.61 billion. The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) is estimated to post its Q1 EPS at $0.93 on revenue of $18.37 billion. Caterpillar Inc (NYSE: CAT) is expected to post its Q1 EPS at $2.13 on revenue of $16.22 billion....

The uptrend in the S&P 500 has stalled out in recent weeks, and the widely watched index is down a little more than 2% over the last month. The pullback in the market coincides with increasing concerns over a slowdown in global economic growth, a re-flaring of the European sovereign debt crisis...

Below are the top consumer goods stocks in terms of earnings estimate for the next quarter. Analysts expect Lorillard Inc (NYSE: LO) to earn $2.29 per share for the June quarter. Lorillard's trailing-twelve-month EPS is $7.99. Stepan Company (NYSE: SCL) is expected to earn $2.15 per share for the...